


Calm Water

by Taua



Category: Naruto
Genre: Boys Kissing, Dangerous Situation, Depression, M/M, Ocean, One Shot, Teen Romance, deathwish, soft core
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-01
Updated: 2013-08-01
Packaged: 2017-12-22 03:04:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/908152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taua/pseuds/Taua
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A confession was made which clearly overtaxes Sasuke. Like so often before he seeks his answers in his own, twisted way - only that this time he got surprising company.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Calm Water

It was hot. Probably the hottest day of the entire year, or at least so it felt. The sun seemed to plan on burning the very earth, making the plants, animals and people suffer under the too strong rays. In fact, it was so burning hot it turned impossible to as much as step outside. Only few were wandering around, a fact which wouldn't change before it turned evening.

Even the beach was almost deserted, regardless of the nicely cooling water of the ocean. It came in strong waves, washing over the white sand before retreating fully back. The flow was strong and steady; only a few shells were washed up the clean beach, but there was no person to pick them up around. No fresh footprints, no laughter of children, not even as much as a car driving up the long road next to the beach.

It felt, almost, like every single human had disappeared from the world, it was so deserted.

But only almost.

A single person was, in fact, at the beach. His footprints were mostly gone, thanks to the coming flood, however outside of the waves' reach his trace could be seen – deep footprints of shoes, created by the person when it walked into the ocean without a hurry.

That had been only a couple of minutes prior. Under the burning sun, it felt like the person stood there for much longer though. The light blue jeans were soaked with seawater, turning slightly darker at the sudden wetness. The shoes were even worse off since the person didn't take them off. They were practically covered in water, turning nearly as heavy as concrete under the surface.

Another wave came, right towards the person. It came fast, the water momentarily becoming less around the person before it reared up, speeding towards the single body.

Taking a deep breath the person braced for the impact, every muscle tensing when the wave was already too close to avoid it any longer.

Mercilessly it hit the body, breaking down on the figure so forceful the person was taken off their feet. Washing forward the water took everything along – the opened shirt, the pale skin, diving under the black hair so it turned midnight in color. The face was grimaced, eyes pressed shut to avoid the wetness into the eyes, mouth clenched so it kept the breath inside.

The waves retreated again, threatening to pull the young man along. However he fought the might of the ocean, collecting all his force to get up again. The weight of the water slowed him down, made it hard to as much as sit up, let alone fight the pull of the waves. Countless drops ran down the midnight hair and the pale face, white teeth gritted when its owner finally stood again, preparing for the next impact.

It was like a silent battle between David and Goliath – the young man would face the ocean over and over while the waves would try to defeat him once and for all.

He had many reasons for doing what he did. One was steeling his body – the more he endured the raw force of the nature the stronger he'd become. Another was the soothing, calming effect the pointless battle brought along – the swooshing of the waves when they crashed against the large stones covering the beach was like music to his ears. And, perhaps the most attractive reason to him, was the constant possibility to simply let go.

The waves were strong and the ocean cruel. If he allowed himself to be pulled along he would, easily, get washed out into the open. All he had to do was to simply stay still once the waves ran over him – then he'd get dragged along and, eventually, drown in the water, unable to swim back to the beach and at some point falling victim to his own exhaustion.

The danger reached it's peak in that very moment – on extremely hot days, just when the flood came.

A painful way to die.

When the young man came to the beach and walked hip-deep into the water, many things crossed his mind. He wasn't exactly suicidal, at least in most of the cases; it was just that, when he was in such obvious danger, his mind would clear up much better and figure out what really was important and precious to him. Like when one's life passed before the inner eye seconds from certain death, only less extreme. It was a great help, more often than not, when he was overtaxed with everything. Scarred from his past there was only little left in his life he really cared about, what itself changed his character and view towards most things drastically.

Whenever he had felt down or overwhelmed with everything, the young man would flee to this tiny, separated part of the beach. Unlike the main part, it was rather hard and troublesome to get where he currently stood. There were large stones to climb, on foot of course, and even a small, underwater tunnel to cross before somebody reached the small part of the beach where the sand was still white and view hidden from everyone, the lifeguard included. The young man had stumbled upon the place on one of his many walks, when the beach was too full to properly think. Nobody ever came to the place, likely most didn't even know about it to begin with.

Perfect for him to figure out his raging thoughts.

Another wave came, far less stronger than the previous one. This time he only tilted backwards, a small bit, before he got a secure stand once again. His face was serious and eyes reflected sadness as he stared out at the ocean, his mind working without resolution. The transparent fabric of the once white shirt clung to his body, the hem floating in the water around his hips. He didn't really mind it, his entire focus on his thoughts and the dangerous waves.

There was a special reason he came to that place. Something had happened, just a while back, and he was terribly insecure on how to handle it. In his, quite not reasonable at times, thinking he figured he'd find the answer in the ocean, when he looked death in the eye.

A couple of days before someone had told something special to him, something he couldn't quite believe and which demanded a reaction from his side. Since he had never been in such a situation before – and also had nobody left he could ask for advice – the only possible way to figure out his true feelings and thoughts were to come to the ocean.

When he was taken along by a wave strong enough to, in fact, put his life into danger, then he'd have his answer. Moments before death would grasp him he'd see what really mattered to him before his inner eye – and when the person appeared then, he'd have the ultimate proof in his hands. His mind and body could trick him, did so many times prior, but when the potential end of his life was only the length of an arm away, only the deepest, purest essence of his being would come to the surface.

Another wave was coming, the water pulling back a lot this time. That promised to be a very strong wave – a strike from the ocean dangerous enough to provide the young man what he wanted.

He took a deep breath, seeing the nearing wall of water. It was still a bit too far away, he would still be able to escape if he wished to. In fact, his body tensed and twitched with instinct of self preservation, making it hard for him to maintain his position.

The wave was speeding closer. He had to battle his body just a tiny bit longer before-

“Sasuke!”

The yell had been so loud Sasuke was almost deafened by it. A heartbeat later something tugged on his shoulders, dragging him backwards fast and clumsily, making him stumble and fall after a few feet of walking. Just when he was about to fall the wave turned too close to dodge – and the wall of salty water broke down on him, some of it getting into his eyes and mouth since he had gasped at the sudden pull prior. The masses from the ocean were so heavy it was painful, the drag from the retreating water so strong he nearly got washed away with it.

But a pair of strong arms, seemingly more powerful than the ocean itself, held him back with an iron grip. The muscles shook under the force of the water and both Sasuke and the other body were rocking a little because of it, but after an eternity the pull subsided.

As soon as it did, the strong arms still snaked around Sasuke lifted him up, roughly dragging him sidewards. Behind a small wall of stones was something like a pool, a bit of calm water which wasn't all too affected by the waves. It was a not too deep part – the water reached barely above the level of Sasuke's thighs, making it rather uninteresting to him.

Once there the arms let go of him, roughly tossing him into the pool. Upon his fall Sasuke landed on top of a few underwater stones, hitting his shin painfully and swallowing a bit more of seawater. Coughing he got up again, his throat burning at the salt though his face remained the indifferent mask he wore when he stared out at the ocean before. He recognized the other man immediately, watching him pant hard with exhaustion and listen him growling with frustration. The closed, former white shirt had turned transparent like Sasuke's, only it looked far heavier than his own. Shining blond hair looked like melted gold in the light of the sun, the bangs dripping wet since its owner had been dragged underwater by the wave as well.

“What the fucking hell is wrong with you?!” the other man shouted, azure blue eyes flaring with shier anger. The powerful arms shook, as if their owner had a hard time keeping himself from beating Sasuke up. “If I hadn't been there, then...!” The young, blond man trailed off, snarling when his hands closed into fists.

Expression neutral, Sasuke replied, “What I do and not do is none of your business.”

“The hell?!” the other man yelled, slapping the water so some landed right on Sasuke's face. “Don't give me this bullshit, not now!” He calmed down, momentarily, and brought both hands up to rub over his face in distress. “Oh God... Thinking you just... almost...”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, getting gradually more annoyed. “How did you get here, anyhow? Were you following me around?” he inquired.

“Of course! And when I see what you were up to, thank God I did!” the other man shouted, his hands snapping away from his own face, revealing a furious grimace.

“Tsk,” Sasuke snarled, his jaw cramping since he tensed it so much. “Don't act like you know what crosses my mind, Uzumaki,” he bellowed, knowing how much the other man hated being addressed by his last name. It wasn't like Sasuke had any intentions acting nice, after the moron interfered with his plans of clearing his mind.

“I told you to call me Naruto, fucking bastard!” Naruto shouted, even louder than before. He had the bad habit to become noisy when he was arguing, as if making up the lack of good points with it. “And getting hip-deep into the ocean while flood, your intentions were pretty much obvious!” He stamped closer to Sasuke, the water not slowing him down at all, and then he roughly closed his hands around the collar of his shirt. “Don't you dare doing shit like this, you hear me?! I forbid you to die any time soon!” he yelled, right into Sasuke's face.

“Who are you to give me orders?!” he bit back, punching Naruto's hands away. “Why do you care so much about me, anyhow?!” Sasuke asked, loosing his temper. He had been so close, so so close, to understand what he thought and felt. Naruto was nothing but trouble to him, since the first moment he saw him – and now more than ever. Didn't the moron realize? Without him, Sasuke knew perfectly well about his mind and understood his body and thoughts easily. But since Naruto appeared and constantly turned his life upside down, everything went more and more out of control.

And the stupid idiot wasn't even aware of it.

“I care because I love you!” Naruto shouted, approaching once again. He was shaking all over, probably with anger and perhaps also confusion.

God did that piss Sasuke off.

“That's exactly the problem, moron!” he snarled, dark eyes narrowed at Naruto. “Because of you, I understand nothing anymore! It's all your fault!”

“And because you don't understand some shit you plan to kill yourself?!” the other fought back, “What kind of twisted logic is that?!”

Sasuke, too, was shaking with anger, his hands clenching beneath the surface. Who did Naruto think he was, insulting his methods like that? His shallow mind probably couldn't as much as grasp the point to begin with. Even when Sasuke explained it to him, Naruto would never understand, in his naïve and immature thinking.

Teeth gritting, he took a deep breath before answering, “I came here to figure out what I feel for you, you damn idiot!”

Suddenly Naruto grew silent, confusion spreading over his features. He was taken so off guard he even relaxed, making Sasuke feel out of place as well. The water washed gently around them, the waves crashing against the stones and washing over the white sand of the beach.

The silence was heavy between them and stayed for a felt eternity before Naruto licked over his lips.

“If my confession led you to try killing yourself,” he murmured, so lowly Sasuke almost missed it, “Then I'd rather live as we did up to now.” There was a short pause. “You can still hate me and fight with me, you can even completely ignore me, as long as it keeps you from doing... things like this again.” He lowered his head, slightly, facing the bright blue water between them. “I don't care how you feel about me, as long as you live, I'll be satisfied.”

A knot formed in Sasuke's throat, so thick he could hardly breathe. He, too, was taken off guard by the sudden statement. The worry was so clear in Naruto's words and, for the first time ever, Sasuke started doubting his extreme method. He hadn't been aware he meant so much to someone – anyone – that he'd scare them to such a degree they even offered to suffer for as long as he stayed save.

“I just want to understand...” Sasuke reasoned, aloud, though the words were meant for him alone. His eyes were half closed as he, too, lowered his gaze onto the calm water. Maybe he could read the answer in the blue mirror instead of in the turbulent waves? It was hard, if not impossible, to tell.

Slowly Naruto approached, his hands lifting out of the water. He closed his right hand around Sasuke's wrist, gently, while his over reached higher to lay around his upper arm.

“Can I try helping you figure out what you feel?” he asked, lowly, his azure eyes searching Sasuke's face for a hint of approval.

“Hn,” he replied, his dark eyes staring at Naruto's thin lips as he moved closer.

Carefully Naruto leaned his upper body down – he was a few inches taller than Sasuke – so their noses brushed, lightly. Drops of seawater still ran down his blond bangs, his tanned skin sparkling because of it when he finally pressed his head forward.

They kissed, delicately, their lips pressing motionlessly over one another. Naruto let his eyes slide close at the light contact, his hands clenching a bit tighter around the other.

For a moment Sasuke stared at him, but eventually closed his eyes as well, allowing himself to fall into the harmless kiss between them, sensing how his mind started to calm down, becoming smooth like the small pool they stood in.

 

Maybe, this one time, there was no need for the deadly ocean to find his answers.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello readers! 
> 
> Here some lighter thing. Still depressing and difficult to some degree, however also with some look-ups. I kind of like such things, seemingly not fitting together but still creating an interesting mixture. Also, quite a short piece compared to my other works. 
> 
> This story was mainly inspired by the picture on the following link:  
> http://imageshack.us/a/img195/6157/9904223.jpg  
> I tried to describe the scene on the drawing. I do that quite often, actually xDDD most of my One-Shots are inspired by fanart. 
> 
> Again unbetad, so please point out mistakes so I can improve =)


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